Kylian Mbappe has surpassed the milestone of 500 appearances for club and country. His statistics are impressive, especially when compared to the two legends Ronaldo and Messi.
Mbappe has long been seen as the successor to the greatness of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. To put that into context, let’s compare the statistics that these three superstars achieved after the first 500 matches of their careers.
At the 500-match milestone, the number of minutes played by these three strikers is not too different. Mbappe has played 38,409 minutes, just a little less than Messi (39,181 minutes) and slightly more than Ronaldo (37,880 minutes). This shows that the French striker has very good stamina.
Mbappe’s statistics are not much inferior to Messi and Ronaldo.
In addition to being able to play at a high frequency, Mbappe also has an impressive scoring efficiency. After 500 matches, Mbappe scored 362 goals, while CR7 only had 243 goals. Meanwhile, Messi has the best scoring record of the three with 386 goals.
Mbappe is not only good at scoring goals, he also contributes positively to the overall gameplay. After 500 matches, the French player has 145 assists. The star born in 1998 is only slightly behind Messi (153 assists). Meanwhile, Ronaldo continues to be far behind these two opponents (99 assists).
However, Mbappe still has a weakness. That is the ability to take direct free kicks, when the player nicknamed “Ninja Turtle” has never scored a goal from a free kick outside the penalty area. Meanwhile, Ronaldo in the first half of his career had an impressive free kick with 27 goals from free kicks outside the penalty area after 500 matches. The similar number for Messi is 15.
Mbappe’s aerial ability is also not impressive, scoring only 12 goals with his head in 500 matches. He continues to lose to Ronaldo (38 goals) and Messi (14 goals). Remember, Messi has never been highly rated in aerial combat.
Looking at the statistics, it can be seen that Mbappe is having a more impressive start to his career than Ronaldo and is almost on par with Messi. However, the French player still has a long way to go. CR7 has proven that he can reach world-class level even after turning 30. This is a challenge waiting for Mbappe to conquer in the near future.
Stats after 500 matches | Mbappe | Ronaldo | Messi |
Number of minutes | 38,409 | 37,880 | 39,181 |
Goal | 362 | 243 | 386 |
Construction | 145 | 99 | 153 |
Score a direct free kick | 0 | 2 | 15 |
Penalty goal | 46 | 34 | 50 |
Header goal | 12 | 38 | 14 |
Average goals + assists per 90 minutes | 1,336 | 0.917 | 1,351 |